


2006

by couragee



Series: To Dwell on Dreams [1]
Category: Glee, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Crossover, First Meetings, Hogwarts House Sorting, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:28:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27560761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/couragee/pseuds/couragee
Summary: Kurt Hummel has said goodbye to his father, packed his bags, and is on his way to Hogwarts for the first time. Knowing very little about the Wizarding world, he accepts the help of some new friends to help him understand everything from enchanted snacks to sorting hats and ghosts. But what happens when an arrogant Sebastian Smythe seats himself beside Kurt?
Relationships: Kurt Hummel/Sebastian Smythe
Series: To Dwell on Dreams [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2014543
Comments: 1
Kudos: 16





	2006

**Author's Note:**

> Introduction to my Hogwarts/Glee crossover! This is just an insight to the characters' first day at Hogwarts, including the train journey and sorting ceremony. I hope you enjoy :)

People’s lives – their real lives, as opposed to their simple physical existences – begin at different times. The real life of Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, an eleven year old boy raised in Lima, Ohio, began in 2006.

At least, that’s what he had thought at the time; it was only after several years that he realised – with startling clarity – that that moment on the train was not the beginning of his life as a whole, but rather, the beginning of its first chapter.

* * *

Chapter One: Green

Grey faded into green. Huge squares of brick and concrete tumbled into the distance until they took the shape of terrifyingly massive hills. Grass rolled on for miles, with mountains so high and horizons so far away that Kurt felt more alone than he ever had before.

It had been difficult saying goodbye to his father, Kurt recalled, but it was something that had to be done. Every cloud had a silver lining. The silver lining in this particular situation was in fact none other than Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

At that moment, a squeak sounded to Kurt’s left, and he lifted his forehead from where it had been rested against the glass of the window. He ran a quick hand through his hair, hoping to all the Gods that he hadn’t flattened it and ruined it, before turning to face the source of the noise.

Which turned out to be a young girl, seemingly around his age, with rich, dark skin and deep brown eyes which made her look so full of life, so beautiful, that if Kurt weren’t already fairly certain that he was gay, would have made his question his sexuality. The girl looked up to meet his eyes, gave a bright grin, and extended her hand towards him.

“Hi, I’m Mercedes. Can I sit in here?” she smiled.

Staring blankly at her for an embarrassing moment, Kurt remembered he was expected to respond, so reached out his own hand to shake hers and stuttered, “I’m Kurt. Um, of course you can, don’t worry about it. Pleased to meet you.”

With a quiet “Likewise,” Mercedes entered the carriage and gently placed a backpack on the seat beside her as she sat down. They were facing each other in their seats, Kurt awkwardly flitting back and forth between watching the scenery fly past the window and glancing towards Mercedes with a polite smile.

After a few minutes of what quickly grew to be uncomfortable silence, Mercedes piped up, “So, are you a first year?”

Grateful for the reprieve from such stilted quietness, Kurt replied, “Yeah, I am. Are you?”

“Yep. Do you know what House you’ll be in yet? I hope I’m in Gryffindor. I don’t know how much you know about Hogwarts history, but that’s the house that Harry Potter used to be in. And all of his friends,” Mercedes seemed to be almost bouncing in her seat in excitement, “but of course, I won’t be really upset if I’m Sorted into a different House. Except maybe Slytherin. But I guess I’ll make that work. It’s just, green really isn’t my colour, you know?”

Kurt’s head was spinning, overwhelmed with all of the words and information that had just come out of the other girl’s mouth. After a moment of processing what he had heard, he laughed, “Vogue says green is out this season, so I sincerely hope I’m not in Slytherin.” Mercedes’ eyes seemed to twinkle slightly at the mention of the magazine, which Kurt took as a good sign. “Actually, I don’t know that much about the Houses or… anything, really. I was raised by my dad and he’s a muggle, so…” he trailed off.

“Oh, that’s alright! I can teach you! My mum is a witch, so she’s told me all about it. So, there are four Houses in Hogwarts. First years will be sorted into one of these, and then we’re expected to eat lunch with the people in our House, share dorms with them, cheer them on at Quidditch, that sort of thing,” Kurt nodded along, eager to learn yet slightly puzzled already, “The Houses are Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Slytherin, named after the people who founded Hogwarts all those years ago. So, Hufflepuffs are typically loyal and hardworking; Ravenclaws are creative, cynical and independent; Gryffindors are proud and resilient; and Slytherins are ambitious and self-reliant. Which one sounds the most like you?”

Kurt furrowed his brow for a moment in thought, biting at his bottom lip as he concentrated. “Well, I don’t really know which one I’ll be. To be honest, it sounds like I could be any of them! That’s not gonna be a problem, is it?” He questioned, concerned.

“Of course not,” a new, deeper voice spoke. Kurt snapped his head around to see a boy with short chestnut hair and a slim face with piercing, bright green eyes looking back at him from the seat to his left. The stranger laughed, “I’m Sebastian Smythe. I’m a first year too, but my family have been coming to Hogwarts for generations. Some people say my family is a distantly descended from Salazar Slytherin himself.” As the boy spoke, his eyes lit up with a proud smile.

“Wow, that’s… cool,” Kurt spoke politely, feeling on edge with the boy sitting so close to him that their thighs almost touched.

“Aren’t you going to tell me your name?” The green eyed boy – Sebastian – asked Kurt, staring at him expectantly.

Kurt felt heat rise to his cheeks in shame at his own impoliteness. “Oh! I’m so sorry, I completely forgot. I- I’m Kurt. Hummel.”

“Nice to meet you, Kurt Hummel,” Sebastian said smoothly, still looking intently at Kurt’s face, who shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny. Sebastian laughed again – a sound which, to be quite honest, was beginning to get on Kurt’s nerves – and placed a bold hand on Kurt’s leg, just above his knee. “Hey, don’t look so uncomfortable. I’m just saying hello. And speaking of hello, why don’t you introduce me to your friend?”

“My name is Mercedes Jones, and I can introduce myself, thank you very much,” Mercedes interjected with a sarcastic smile and an outstretched hand. Sebastian appeared somewhat irritated that he had to remove his hand from Kurt’s knee in order to shake her hand, but Kurt sent her a discreet grateful smile, to which she winked in return once Sebastian was looking away.

Unfortunately, the freedom only lasted so long, and Sebastian placed his hand back on Kurt’s leg, slightly higher up and with a slightly tighter grip which would have been mildly painful if Kurt didn’t have such a high pain tolerance. Kurt simply rolled his eyes, annoyed at being caught between the crossfires of an unspoken argument between the two other people in his carriage.

Kurt returned to looking out of the window and took in the sights. He saw one cloud which looked like a cat playing with a ball of string, one which vaguely resembled a smiling face. After a while he shifted his gaze to the pastures, where he began to count animals. He could see cows of brown, beige, black and white, and the occasional pure white one which reminded him of the face of some sort of milk advertisement. His count had just reached twenty one when he heard a chuckle from beside him.

“Are you so bored you’d rather stare at cattle than try to make conversation with me?” Sebastian spoke (or rather _drawled_ ) in a mocking voice.

Kurt blushed again – damning his pale skin for making it so obvious – and turned to face Sebastian. “N-no, sorry, it’s not… you’re not boring. Or, I guess, I don’t know yet, ‘cos I hardly know you, but… it’s just… it’s gonna sound stupid.”

“Nothing you say is stupid,” Sebastian murmured, but it was evidently loud enough for Mercedes to hear, if the scoff from the opposite seat was any indication. Sebastian shot her a glare, before turning his piercing gaze back to Kurt, who had been stifling a laugh at the cheesy line.

Kurt schooled his facial expression into something more serious before replying, still embarrassed, “I just… I like counting all the animals. I’m sure you could tell by my accent, but I’m American so I don’t see a lot of them. Which is odd, considering I live in a tiny rural town, but I tend to stay away from the farms, to keep my clothes from smelling like manure.”

Sebastian opened his mouth to reply but was thankfully interrupted by a knock on the door to the train’s corridor and a woman pulling the doors open to reveal a large cart full of sweets and snacks. Despite the fact that Kurt knew what absolutely none of them were, his mouth watered, and his stomach made an embarrassingly loud grumbling noise. He was about to pull out his wallet and order something, until he remembered he had packed it in his trunk, which he didn’t have access to. He frowned to himself in annoyance.

“I’ll take two of everything,” Sebastian requested with faux politeness, offset only by the self-satisfied smirk upon his lips.

As the woman hurried to hand him everything he ordered (soon resorting to just stacking it neatly on the seat beside him, as his hands quickly became full), Mercedes stared at Sebastian incredulously. “Are you seriously that hungry? Have you not eaten in a week?”

Sebastian met her eyes over the pile of food in his arms, already looking irritated. “No, of course not. Maybe you’re unaware of this, but I actually have a heart and a working set of ears, and I can tell when my new friend is hungry.” He then turned back to Kurt, “Half of this is for you.”

Kurt’s eyes widened in shock. “Sebastian, you really don’t have to –“

“Hush, Kurt. It’s my treat. Besides, you can make it up to me by taking me out to the Three Broomsticks next Hogsmeade weekend.” Sebastian smirked.

Kurt must have looked as perplexed as he felt, because Mercedes leaned close to him as Sebastian was paying the woman and explained, “The Three Broomsticks is a sort of pub in Hogsmeade, which is a town near to Hogwarts. They let us go there a few weekends each term on day trips, if we have parent permission.”

Nodding, Kurt let out a quiet ‘ah’ of understanding and smiled at Mercedes once again in gratitude.

“You are gay, right?”

Kurt turned to gape at Sebastian, not knowing what to say. If he said yes, would he get beaten up? He wasn’t quite sure yet of how accepting people were in England, so was going to deny it adamantly, before the green eyed boy continued speaking.

“Of course, if you aren’t gay, that’s fine, but I’d like to know now so I can make plans to go with someone else to Hogsmeade. It’s just, you know, your… clothes, and your face, and… you just give off gay vibes.”

Kurt pursed his lips, feeling quite offended at Sebastian’s blatant insult towards his style and appearance, before it clicked in his head what the other boy had said. “Yes, I’m gay. I’m not even going to ask if you are, because I think that’s obvious.”

Sebastian laughed, obviously amused by Kurt’s hint of wit and snarky attitude. “That would be a fair assumption. Well, let’s get on with eating this food, then. Here, try this one – it’s a British company so I’m guessing you’ve never had one before – it’s called a chocolate frog, and you’ll want to be careful when you open it, because –“ by this point, Kurt had already eagerly torn open the packaging, releasing a brown blur which bounced on the walls and seats. He let out an undignified squeak of surprise which interrupted the other boy, then proceeded to blush beet red in embarrassment. Sebastian laughed again. “Yep, that’s exactly why you should be careful.”

* * *

The train began to slow, only by an almost imperceptible amount, and Kurt pressed his face up to the glass in an attempt to see through the darkness which had since blanketed the area. He gave up with a sigh of frustration, and turned to Mercedes to ask, “How late is it, exactly?”

Pulling her robe back to check her watch (a Prefect had come past earlier to tell them all to change into their uniforms), she informed him, “It’s a quarter to six. We should be stopping in a few minutes.”

As Mercedes had predicted, the train screeched to a halt a few minutes later. Her and Kurt shared an excited grin. An announcement rung out through what seemed to be invisible speakers, instructing everyone to exit the train and assuring them that their trunks would be delivered to their dormitories.

The three first years opened the carriage doors and stepped out into the excited rush of students all pushing to be the quickest to exit the train. Mercedes, braver than either of the two boys, hurried ahead to the front of the mad scramble for freedom and fresh air. Sebastian and Kurt shared an amused glance over the heads of some students – most of which, Kurt noticed with a jolt of superiority, he actually towered over – and Kurt was filled with a sudden warm feeling that perhaps he and Sebastian could be friends after all.

Finally arriving on the open platform, Kurt breathed in deeply, held in the air for a moment, before letting it out heavily. The night was crisp and cold, despite the fact that autumn hadn’t even started yet – but, Kurt mused, they were somewhere near Scotland where it was much colder than London.

Shivering, teeth beginning to chatter lightly, Kurt felt a warm arm snake around to rest on his lower back. He looked up and met those green eyes, green eyes which were smiling down at him in a comforting way.

The brief moment of piece was shattered with a deafeningly loud bellow of, “Firs’ years! Firs’ years this way!” from directly behind them. Kurt jumped in shock so violently that it forced Sebastian to release his hold on his back, and they were pushed further apart by the crowd of eleven year olds rushing towards the abnormally large man holding the lamp.

Alone, and feeling slightly queasy with apprehension, Kurt walked with the herd towards a great black lake, stopping short in his tracks when he bumped into the student in front of him. He caught a flash of a smile which wordlessly accepted his apologetic grimace before his attention was brought back to the giant. Kurt noticed for the first time that the man was holding a pink umbrella, which looked worn and faded as though it were years old.

A flash of dazzling light erupted from the tip of the umbrella as it was waved through the air, and then a fleet of boats arose from the depths of the lake, miraculously dry and affixed with a burning lantern at the front of each small wooden raft. The man – Hagrid, “Professor o’ Care o’ Magical Creatures”, he had proudly told them – guided them all to sit, three people to a boat.

Kurt found himself seated between Mercedes and a boy who shyly introduced himself as Mike Chang. The boats began to drift away from the shore without even a slight push: just another wave of Hagrid’s umbrella.

As they floated through the darkness, Mercedes leaned in close to his ear and whispered, “If Smythe is a descendent of Salazar, he’s probably a Slytherin. They’ve always been the outcasts at Hogwarts, and there’s always been tension between them and the other Houses. It was said to have calmed down a bit after the last Great War, but… I guess it’s just as bad as it was before.”

Kurt turned to look at her with his brows furrowed, not quite understanding what she was referring to. Mercedes caught his look and sighed before explaining, “That’s why he was acting so hostile.”

Nodding slowly, he turned back to face the front of the boat – just in time to witness one of the most beautiful sights he had ever laid eyes on.

There was a collective gasp from all of the students, those who had been raised in a family of witches and wizards equally as enamoured with the view as the muggle borns. A quiet chuckle could be heard from the front of the fleet, and a murmur of, “Never gets old,” from whom Kurt could only assume was Hagrid. Before their eyes was a towering castle, at least fifty storeys high, the black silhouette of the building barely discernible against the darkness of the sky. There were towers and spires, round rooftops and class ceilings which reflected the stars, tiny windows glowing golden against the twilight.

Suddenly the spectacle blinked out of existence – but Kurt realised, upon hearing the scrape of the bottom of the wooden boats against the pebbles carpeting the lake floor, that they had arrived at their destination. Although exactly where that was, he couldn’t say: it was far too dark to see even a metre in front of him.

Everywhere was black – blacker than before – and Kurt found himself nearly falling over several times as his feet struggled to find an even grip on the large pebbles and stones he walked on as he stepped out of the boat, following the crowds. Inside his mind, Kurt was weeping for the state of his new designer shoes. There was the unmistakable sound of Hagrid’s voice, though Kurt couldn’t hear exactly what he said from such a distance, before the pink umbrella was waved again and the tip of it was illuminated with a bright white glow, brilliant enough to light the path for all of the first years as he kept it held high over his head like some sort of magical tour guide.

After a walk which, in Kurt’s opinion, was unnecessarily long, they arrived inside the building at two huge wooden doors. They stretched from the floor to the ceiling, at least ten feet tall, each with a knocker which was surely much too heavy for any person to lift manually. Hagrid stopped to give them a brief speech about the importance of the Sorting ceremony, about the feast they would share, and about the importance of respecting and honouring each House as equal to the next.

With that, the doors opened wide as though pulled by some external force, and hundreds of faces turned to watch them from four long benches. Kurt could barely contain another gasp as he took in his surroundings – on each bench were a hundred students, all of varying shapes and sizes and facial expressions, from bored to excited to proud to sneering, each with a fine porcelain plate on the table in front of them, a set of golden cutlery, which seemed to almost sparkle as they reflected the light from candles which glowed bright in the air, floating as though suspended by invisible string.

Kurt craned his neck back so far that he accidentally head bumped the student behind him, and it was with a hiss of pain from the blonde girl behind him and a flaming face of his own that he looked up at the ceiling. He almost stopped in his tracks in awe but forced himself to keep moving in order to prevent another embarrassing accident. The ceiling was of a deep colour somewhere between black and navy blue, resembling the sky outside, sprinkled with white stars in beautiful constellations and wispy clouds blowing peacefully across the skyscape. For a moment he wondered if someone had simply peeled away the ceiling and left it bare, but there was no wind and moreover, something told him that rain would soon become a problem with a design like that.

Slowly the group came to a stop, a four-legged stool standing on the floor in front of them. Kurt leaned up on his tiptoes, cursing himself for falling to the back of the line where he could barely see a thing, and caught sight of a pile of brown fabric on the seat. He gasped out loud in horror, a few students turning to give him bemused looks, but he could barely contain his pure disgust. It appeared to be a hat, but it was falling apart at every seam and was flopped over like it couldn’t find a will to live – and Kurt thought bitterly that he would feel the same way if he were that hat. Even from such a distance, he could practically see the fumes coming out of the accessory, the stench which rose in dancing wisps of rancid air up into the fake night sky.

A permanent grimace sat upon his face and he was so distracted by his own imagination of exactly what he would do to destroy that hat if he had the chance, that he completely missed the headmistress’ speech and didn’t return back to reality until he heard his name called.

“Kurt Hummel.”

Suddenly the only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat, and he regretted his ignorance of the introductory explanation provided by the stern woman in emerald robes who stood beside the stool and that godforsaken hat. Kurt walked towards the front, feeling as though he were taking the path to his own execution. _It may still turn out to be someone’s execution if they try to get me to wear that awful hat_ , Kurt thought darkly. Seemingly out of nowhere, a hand gripped his wrist and he stopped in his tracks to meet Sebastian’s face again, who whispered quietly, “I hope to see you in Slytherin.” Kurt gave him a short nod before continuing to move forward.

After what felt like an eternity (but was realistically only about ten seconds), he arrived by the stool. The hat was lifted, and a hand guided him to sit down. Kurt managed to suppress a gag at the thought of such an atrocity touching his perfect hair, instead schooling his face into a disgusted grimace which earned a few snickers from the onlooking students. The hat was slowly dropped onto his head, and Kurt held his breath, partly in anticipation of what was to come next, but mostly because he couldn’t stand the smell.

He nearly fell off the stool in shock as a small voice echoed through his head, as though it were physically inside him. He heard a few more distant giggles, before he returned his focus to the strange person talking inside his mind.

“Hmm… difficult, very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Very proud, very stubborn. Not a bad mind, either – no – curious, indeed. Oh, but there’s so much love in here, so much passion, hiding behind the ambition and cunning. Hmm, but what to make of you… it’ll have to be…”

“Slytherin!” was shouted, again nearly shocking Kurt off his seat, and finally the wretched hat was pulled off his head. He stood up, walking with confidence to the far left table which he had been directed to. As he made his way over, his fingers deftly rearranged his hair into something slightly more presentable, smoothing over the ruffles caused by the dirty hat. He shivered with the realisation that there had probably been a thousand sweaty teenage heads in that hat, and he would bet his new Alexander McQueen jacket on the fact that it had never seen the inside of a washing machine.

Suddenly Kurt was very much looking forward to his evening shower.

When he sat down, it was to dwindling applause and a few pats on the back from older students. Struck by what he would call a genius idea, Kurt picked up his spoon and watched his own reflection in it as he fixed his hair. It was almost as good as it had been twenty minutes ago, he decided.

As the last first year’s name was called and he shuffled shyly towards the Ravenclaw table, the headmistress waved her wand – and yes, that made much more sense to Kurt than a pink umbrella – and suddenly there were dozens of plates of food all stacked up in front of him, all on golden plates much like his own. The food on offer ranged from fries to bread to chicken, beef, pasta, fruit, lettuce, and some other weird items he could only assume were British things which (fortunately, by the looks of them) never made it across the Atlantic.

While he ate, Kurt chatted to three other first years: Sebastian and two brunette girls who introduced themselves as Rachel and Santana. Sebastian was seated next to him, as his name has been called not long after Kurt’s, and the two of them shared stories from their very different upbringings, as well as him and the girls educating Kurt on British cuisine.

“So, wait, what actually is that?” Kurt asked, pointing at a plated dessert in front of Rachel, as he laughed at its name.

Rachel huffed indignantly, as though she had been personally insulted, and cried, “It’s spotted dick! I already told you!”

Sebastian simply smiled amusedly at Kurt, who had since burst into uncontrollable laughter, clutching his sides in pain. “But what is it made of?” Kurt laughed. “I don’t know much about England, but in the states if you have a spotted dick, you should definitely go to the hospital!”

“It’s… sort of… it’s like a pudding with fruit in it, I guess. You can eat it with custard.” Sebastian explained patiently.

Kurt was just about to open his mouth to reply with “why on earth would you eat two desserts as one” when he looked up in shock as a thin wisp of smoke took the form of a person in front of him. 

“Hello, there!” a cheery voice called, the wisps of smoke first taking the form of a mouth, then a face, then half of a torso as though it couldn’t be bothered to create its own stomach and legs.

Meanwhile, Kurt was trying not to pass out. He managed to take in a breath, immediately turning towards Sebastian to hiss, “What is that?!”

Sebastian laughed, patting Kurt’s hand which had a white-knuckled grip on the edge of the table. “It’s a ghost, Kurt. Or a poltergeist. They’re fairly common around here.”

The ghost – or poltergeist – floated closer to the two boys, situating itself in the middle of the table. “Yes, that’s what I am! Pleased to meet you. My name’s Fred!”

Wide eyed and afraid, Kurt squeaked, “Hi,” so feebly that the few people who were observing the interaction erupted into laughter. Offended and more than a little embarrassed, Kurt crossed his arms and huffed, raising his chin haughtily before offering a hand for Fred to shake and speaking more confidently, “I’m Kurt.”

A smirk overtook the ghost’s face as he extended his own hand, shaking it with Kurt’s. A sudden chill ran across Kurt’s body, originating from the point of contact with the ghost, and he shivered involuntarily. As soon as he let go, he asked in shock, “What just happened?”

“You didn’t think I’d be warm, did you?” Fred laughed heartily, “Well, I’m glad I can still prank people in death. Ah, if George could see me now…” With a wistful smile etched onto his features, the ghost faded away, bit by bit as he had emerged.

As soon as the ghost had fully disappeared, Kurt turned to Sebastian to give him a smack on the arm. “You’re horrible! Why didn’t you tell me about ghosts? You’d think it would have popped up in conversation when we were talking about the Wizarding world! Honestly. I’ve just embarrassed myself and even worse, he probably thinks I’m really rude!”

Sebastian was grinning by the end of Kurt’s little monologue and raised an eyebrow when Kurt had finished. He gave Kurt’s hand a light squeeze, at which Kurt startled slightly as he had forgotten they were holding hands. He snatched his hand away, tucking it protectively against his chest as he folded his arms, but couldn’t quite hide the smile on his face.

* * *

Later that night, as he lay in his new four-poster bed after a thorough hair washing, Kurt pondered the day he’d had. He had made some good friends, settled into life at Hogwarts, and been Sorted into his House – the family he would have to live with for the next seven years. He sighed. That sounded like a really long time. He just hoped he would get along with his Housemates.

Rolling over to lie on his side, pulling up his duvet to his shoulders, Kurt looked out into the room. He could see a door, one which he knew led to a short flight of stairs which eventually ended in front of the entry to the Slytherin girl’s room. He shifted his gaze slightly closer, scanning the beds near to his, until his eyes rested on a now familiar form. Sebastian looked so peaceful when he slept – it was as though all of that hostility, all of those defences the boy put up to seem detached and cool just crumbled behind his green eyes when he lay himself to rest.

Kurt soon followed suit, closing his eyes with a contented smile gracing his lips. He dreamed of adventure, of friendship, and of sparkling green eyes.

The next seven years were going to be epic.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm still not sure if this will be Klaine or Kurtbastian endgame, I'm just going to see how it goes and work from there. Feel free to let me know if there are any typos/inconsistencies and I will change them ASAP! I'm using British spelling so some words may look wrong but that's just how they are here :)


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